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About RenewableUK

History

In April 1978, William Grylls of Exeter University brought together a small group of people interested, for one reason or another, in wind energy for a discussion weekend at New Mills Rural Study Centre, in Somerset.

Although the idea of forming an Association was not on the agenda, the advantages of having some kind of organisation facilitating communication between workers in the field had become so evident by the end of the meeting that it was decided to canvass opinion on the desirability of such a scheme using the facilities of 'Wind Engineering', the Editor of which was present.

Some of the New Mills group were also members of the Wind Power Sub-Panel of the ITDG (Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd), and the report of the views expressed at New Mills crystallised the latter panel's half-formed ideas on similar lines into a definite joint initiative.

A meeting was therefore held at Reading University, under the chairmanship of Dr. Peter Musgrove, at which some basic objectives for a possible Association were agreed. General opinion was sought, partly through direct correspondence with colleagues in the field and partly through the distribution of statements at the Seminar, 'Wind Power in the United Kingdom', organised by 'Wind Engineering' in July. The response to these approaches justified the official establishment of a British Wind Energy Association at a further meeting at Reading on 6 September, when temporary Officers were elected and the aims of the Association further revised. It was decided that the enterprise should be formally launched at an Inaugural Meeting to be held at the Rutherford Laboratory on 17 November, and a residential Workshop at Cranfield on 19 and 20 April next year was also proposed.

The Association as yet barely exists. As with all new enterprises, its objectives are necessarily open to wide interpretation and will fall into some order or priority under the pressure of the limited resources initially available.

Clearly, primary aims will be communication and information; the Wind Power field has escalated so rapidly in recent years within the UK that there has inevitably been a great deal of duplication of effort, and the multi-disciplinary nature of the activity has made it difficult to assemble suitable research teams; Wind Energy does not 'belong' to any traditional 'department' of engineering and tends therefore to be left out in the cold, particularly when money is being handed out. The existence of some kind of central body to nourish a grapevine will undoubtedly help by keeping Wind Engineers informed of each others' joys and tribulations, and education of the public concerning the breadth, depth and seriousness of these efforts will help to generate the status which appears to be a prerequisite for reasonable funding. The further development of the Associations' activities, for example the kind of members who join and the degree of participation that they can offer will effect the way the general wind energy situation develops during the coming years.

Click there to read about the inaugural meeting of the BWEA, as published in the first ever issue of Wind Directions